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I wont to add my welcome too, Gary is it. gosh you guys talk funny. you say you have typos. Ha. I have to get my dictionary out when Gill post. if i could only explain things like she can. and spell too. Ha. you have come to a great group here. we all love to help, even when we (me) don't know what the H we are talking about. there is lots of turners here. and the addiction goes on. if you love woodworking. this is the place to go. we love all of it. from carving, furniture, fretwork, (whicth i love) and intarsia. segmentation, mag, and on and on. I am so glad you are here. and you will get lots of help here. I have a Hegner too. and its a top of the line saw. I found i don't wont to waist time with anything else. but i know there are great saws out there, with a lot smaller price to pay. I think you can do most, and i mean Most anything you put your mind too. on any saw. except Mag. hope you stick around, we would love to see your projects, any projects. and love to have you in are little family, you say your doing a project in colorado. thats my home state. i will be looking foward to that. your friend Evie

Welcome, Gary,At first when I saw your screen name I was thinking of turning taffy on a lathe - very messy, even just to imagine. I'm sure glad you turn wood like so many of us! If you want to get right into intarsia, you might want to get a copy of Judy and Jerry's book Intarsia Workbook. Like all the "workbooks" in the Fox Chapel stable, this one takes you through the making of intarsia from the start in little baby steps (just as we need in the beginning). They have some cool patterns.You might also want to check out Kathy Wise intarsia patterns (another fine contributor to Scroll Saw Woodworking and Crafts) (try KathyWise.com)and Sue C. & Toni B. (check out the "Trail Mix" patterns)- they are also frequent contributors to this forum and to the magazines (try ChrestensonBurghoutDesigns) Each pattern maker has a bit different flavor to the patterns.I think that if you are careful, most scroll saws can handle intarsia. If you're not careful, none of them will make you successful. Guess how I'm still learning that one!! SandyPS Don't sweat the typos - we can translate most of them!Sandy

Thanks to everyone for the advice so far. I have got several books on scroll saw technique, and two of Judy Gale Roberts' books on inatarsia, which I am just in the middle of reading now.

All I really need now is a saw! Should be getting one in a few weeks time, then I am off to stay in my condo in Breckenridge for a week (I know it's too early to ski, but I have never seen the place without snow, so it will be an interesting trip), and then when I get back, I will start learning how to cut accurately to the lines (hopefully), and then move on to some simple intarsia projects.

As for cutting straight lines, if you haven't already read or heard, scroll saw blades tend to drift to one side. That means that when you are cutting, you will need to compensate for the blade wanting to "pull" to one side of the line or the other. They aren't like a table saw or even a bandsaw, (even though some drift is typical with bandsaws).

This is caused by the way most scroll saw blades are manufactured. Some types of blades are better than others. It isn't a real big deal, once you get used to it. But if you aren't aware of it when you start out, it can be really frustrating.

Good luck and have fun making sawdust!

__________________
Homer : "Oh, and how is education supposed to make me feel smarter. Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain."

I had read that scroll saw blades cut to the right. I have also read about Olsen Precision Ground blades, which cut in a dead straight line. My book (John Nelson's Scroll Saw Workbook), says that these are the best blades in terms of leaving a smooth finish, but he doesn't recomend them for beginners as they are too aggressive.

Does anyone have any experience with these blades? Couldn't they be made less aggressive simply by slowing down the speed of the saw?

I think your right about adjusting blade speed. If you are used to a certain brand/style of blade, then switch to ones that are more aggressive, but don't adjust your feed rate or blade speed accordingly, that's when you'll notice a big difference. Since you are just getting started, you may not notice how aggressive those blades may be. Reason being that you have no frame of reference with which to compare. In fact, if they track straighter, they may be better for you.

I prefer Olson standard reverse blades, and that is what I got used to. When I tried FD blades or the Olson Mach blades, I had a little trouble adjusting to them, especially in thin material and/or delicate patterns. Your mileage may vary.

__________________
Homer : "Oh, and how is education supposed to make me feel smarter. Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain."

I had read that scroll saw blades cut to the right. I have also read about Olsen Precision Ground blades, which cut in a dead straight line. My book (John Nelson's Scroll Saw Workbook), says that these are the best blades in terms of leaving a smooth finish, but he doesn't recomend them for beginners as they are too aggressive.

Does anyone have any experience with these blades? Couldn't they be made less aggressive simply by slowing down the speed of the saw?

Regards

Gary

Hi again Gary, I use the Olsen precision ground blades all the time. and they are very simelor to flying Duchmon. scroll blades. Yes they are agressive. but are true at cutting and very sharp. the one thing i have leared latly is , make sure your tention is tightened down tight.or the balde can drift on you alot faster. the thing here is. a skip tooth like 22 or 26 tooth per inch holds the saw dust inbetween the teeth making the cut slower. and the precision blades are only 13 teeth per inch. and carries out the saw dust faster. that tooth per inch meens there is more teeth in the wood at the same time. so the saw will work harder to move the saw dust out of the kerf.. and the less teeth per inch moves the dust out faster.more gaps between the teeth in the wood, so to speek. the burr on the right side of the blade, is a God send really. it will help you stay in the wood. if you really don't like it. you can sand it off. buy. putting a sanding block next to the blade while running it for a minute or less. but personaly, i love that little burr. its like driving a car, with some play in the stearing wheel. if you stay to the right. you have more controle.always holding with some pressure on that side. than if you try to stay on the other side, and find your saw pulling all the time to the right. sorry can't keep this short. if you was here i could just show you. but hope this helps some. Evie

Edit I forgot. if you would like a less agressive blade stay with the skip tooth for now. they are much easyer to handale for a beggener. i still have to go back to them on the small fretwork i do.

And you will find different models inside each brand. Which makes it a little intimidating even for some that have been scrolling for a little while. Some blades are targeted at specific tasks (puzzles, metal, Corian) others have different teeth configurations ( skip tooth, reverse teeth, crown teeth). You can easily find blade charts on the web (Olson has a nice one) describing the different blades and suggested usage.

Some of the Rules are:

You should always have 3 teeth touching your material when cutting (at least, that's what I heard )

The more teeth on the blade, the smoother the cut

The more teeth on the blade, the more heat gets generated

The more teeth on the blade, the harder it is for the sawdust to get expelled.

Reverse teeth help prevent "fuzzies" on the bottom

Reverse teeth are more aggressive

The smaller the blade, the finer the cut

The smaller the blade, the tighter the radius you can turn

The smaller the blade, the harder it is to see against your black pattern lines

The smaller the blade, the easier it is to insert upside down

The smaller the blade, the easier it is for it to want to follow the grain on some woods

And let us not forget that the density (type) of wood used will call for different blade types also

I guess we could make an equation of it:
Type of wood + Thickness of wood + type of blade + size of blade + speed of blade(saw) = Nicest cut

So my point is that there is good and bad to every type of blades and you have to adapt yourself to them, as well as make the best compromising choice.

Lots of good advice has been given to you by others here, and we are here if you have further questions.

Good luck with your new hobby, kiss any family lovingly, cause once that saw comes in and you get bit, they'll be wanting for your presence. It's addictive, be warned.

Regards,
Marcel

__________________http://marleb.com
DW788. -Have fun in the shop or it isn't a hobby anymore.NOTE: No trees were killed in the sending of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

Welcome. It is alway good to get another member from overseas. Our friend Gill, Little Flower from Down Under in New Zealand, plus members in South Africa, Spain, Taiwan and else where all add to this site.

Speaking of Gill, she was very kind to us and tried to explain English Cricket to us. Now as a guy from Wales, do you have any insight to this thing with the Pakistani Team that made the news this week? Rigged balls or something?

Anyway back to on topic.

In your neck of the world, Intarsa, the books I have read have the contoured pieces sanded smooth on the edges. Just wondering about the Welsh market and esthetics, do you think using carving tools and leaving the gouges tool marks visible would be more, or less appealing, that the smooth contours left by the power sanding? (Don't ask where that question came from, Lo-o-ong story.)

1) Cricket - I play club cricket every weekend to quite a high standard. To any cricketer, tampering with the ball is almost a taboo. Basically it is cheating, pure and simple. To cut a long story short, there are certain things that the bowler is allowed to do with the ball - e.g. cleaning it, drying it and polishing it. What you are not allowed to do is to artificially roughen it or lift the seam, or rub any artificial substances on it (sunscreen for example). The reason that some players will seek to artficially alter the ball condition is to make it swing in the air - thus giving the bowler an unfair advantage. I believe that baseball has similar issues for broadly the same reason. The reason that there is a such a fuss going on at the moment is that Pakistan have "form" when it comes to ball tampering. Basically, it looks as if they have been caught red-handed again, but as usual, they are trying to cloud the issue by playing the race card. I think that I speak for most crcketers when I say that if found guilty, they should be severely punished.

2) Intarsia - first up, I am not intending to sell any of my work - I only plan on doing it as a hobby. As regard the texture, you are right, most intarsia is sanded smooth as far as I can see, but in her books Judy Gale Roberts does seem to make use of texturing by various means. I think that using carving tools to produce the texture would be a valid procedure - the shaggy effect of a bear's coat would be an example. If you look on JGR's website at www.intarsia.com there is quite a bit of information on texturing there.